


Warrior Cats is Robin Culture

by Acaeria



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Sibling Bonding, This Is Incredibly Self-Indulgent, and was made for me and like 3 other people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27845512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acaeria/pseuds/Acaeria
Summary: Damian’s face falls. “What is the meaning of this?”“It’s calledWarriors.Every Robin has read it, even Steph. It’s practically tradition by this point.”//in which the batkids bond over children's books about cats
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson
Comments: 31
Kudos: 122





	Warrior Cats is Robin Culture

**Author's Note:**

> this is not my best work but i needed to write it, okay, this headcanon lives in my brain rent-free 
> 
> shoutout to lo and harvey and crow for enabling me in writing this. 
> 
> also i did math for this fic to figure out which books were coming out when each robin would be reading them. yes this was excessive. no it was not a good use of my time.

“Are you  _ reading?” _ Dick asks, voice full of disbelief. Wally lowers his book, cheeks reddening. “You are!”

“What, am I not allowed to read now?” Wally asks. 

“Dude.” Dick gestures around him at the amusement park. A rollercoaster swoops by, accompanied by the sounds of screaming. Wally flushes even redder.

“Yeah, okay, okay,” he mumbles. “I just– I just got to the good part, okay, and I wanted to see how it ended.”

Dick rolls his eyes, but he can’t help the fond smile that crosses his face. “What’re you even reading?” Wally holds up the book, and Dick squints at the cover. “ _ Warriors _ ? What, it’s about cats?”

Wally nods. “Yeah, I mean, um, a girl I went to school with got me into it a couple years ago, and it’s actually really cool. I think you’d like it, actually. The main character kind of reminds me of you.”

Dick raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?” he asks. “Maybe I’ll check it out.” He grins. “Now put it away, I wanna stuff my face and ride all the biggest coasters. Um. Not in that order.”

* * *

[May 05 2006]

**dick** [5:18PM] dude u didn’t warn me how devastating this series was???

**dick** [5:18PM] yellowfang is DEAD i am a WRECK

**wally** [5:21PM] ??? did u seriously go and read the books?

**wally** [5:21PM] dude it’s been 3 days

**dick** [5:23PM] these cats have ruined my life

**wally** [5:24PM] yeah i feel that

**dick** [9:54PM] TIGERSTAR!?

**wally** [10:06PM] it’s a lot huh

**wally** [10:07PM] hey aren’t you meant to be on patrol?

**dick** [10:08PM] got benched, one of falcone’s men stabbed me the other day

**wally** [10:09PM] shit, u ok man?

**dick** [10:09PM] physically i’m fine

**dick** [10:20PM] emotionally TIGERCLAW IS LEADER OF SHADOWCLAN WHAT

[May 06 2006]

**dick** [4:46AM] bluestar… 

**dick** [5:01AM] umm?? bones?? blood?? what is happening

**dick** [6:59AM] HOLY SHIT SCOURGE JUST MURDERED TIGERSTAR

**dick** [7:00AM] that was so brutal 

**dick** [8:32AM] i did it. i finished the books.

**wally** [9:02AM] holy shit dude

**wally** [9:02AM] genuinely impressed how quickly u got through those

**wally** [9:03AM] u sure ur not the one w superspeed?

**dick** [9:05AM] i am a changed man walls 

**wally** [9:07AM] haha yea

**wally** [9:07AM] i told u they were good

**wally** [9:08AM] so r u gonna read the new prophecy now or are u gonna leave it to settle for a bit

**dick** [9:09AM] the new what now

* * *

Dick doesn’t know how to interact with Jason, if he’s being perfectly honest. He doesn’t  _ hate _ the kid, not really, but there’s a simmering resentment and bitterness underlying every interaction he has with his new foster ‘brother’. And he knows that really he’s angry at Bruce, because Bruce is an  _ asshole _ , but he can’t help it from leaking out whenever he talks to Jason. And the kid isn’t stupid, he can tell that Dick isn’t his biggest fan, and usually stays out of his way.

But Donna had been right: he needs to spend time with the new Robin, at least try to be an older brother. He doesn’t think he’ll be able to be a very good one, but he can  _ try _ , at least. 

If only he and Jason had anything in common.

He finds Jason in the manor library, curled up on a couch with a book. It’s one of those stuffy classics that Bruce and Alfred were really into and Dick never had the patience for. Dick feels a flare of bitterness–  _ replaced, he’s better than you, they like him better than you _ – and fights it back, because it’s not productive right now. He knocks on a nearby shelf, startling Jason from his reading.

“Hey, Jay,” he greets. Jason’s expression is guarded and suspicious as he squints up at Dick, who offers him a bright grin in response. “I thought we could hang out today, me and you. We haven’t really had much time together without Bruce breathing down our necks.”

“Yeah?” There’s a waver in Jason’s voice that it takes Dick a moment to place–  _ hope _ . “And do what, exactly?”

Dick shrugs. “Whatever you want.” Jason still looks like he’s trying to figure out the explanation, so Dick makes his way over to the couch and sits down at its other end. “Whatcha reading?”

“ _ Wuthering Heights _ ,” Jason says. 

“Yeah? Any good?”

Jason shrugs. “I like it,” he says, stiff. 

“I think Alfred tried to get me to read that one once, but I couldn’t get through it. All the old-timey language tripped me up.” 

Jason shrugs again, looking down at his book. “I don’t mind it,” he says. Then, hesitantly, he asks, “You didn’t read much?”

Dick shakes your head. “Nah, it was never something I was super into. Except– well, there was this one series. God, I haven’t thought of it in years, but I remember flying through it.”

“Yeah?” Jason cocks his head. “Which one?”

“I think I’ve still got them in my room. Hang on, I’ll go get them.”

When Dick returns several minutes later, arms laden with books, Jason scowls at him. “Is this a joke?” he asks. 

Dick, frowning, shakes his head. “What? No!” 

“So you were just… really invested in cat books?”

“Look, I know it sounds weird, but they’re genuinely pretty good. Go ahead and read them if you don’t believe me.” 

Jason scoffs, glancing uncertainly at the pile of books. “Maybe. So, when you said we could hang out– can we leave the manor?”   
“Sure we can leave the manor. Why, you wanna go somewhere?”   
Jason nods. “Yeah.”

“Cool. Come on, I can show you my new bike, it’s super cool.”

* * *

Look, the books are kind of dumb, okay? Jason likes classics, he likes high lit, he likes things that English teachers rave about and students groan about. He likes the old fashioned words, the fancy prose, the glimpses into another time. Call him pretentious or whatever, but he knows what he likes, and he sticks to it.

_ Warriors _ is not what he likes at all, but he can’t help but fall in love with them.

He speeds through Dick’s old copies in about a week, and then sheepishly asks Alfred if he can get the newer books, too. Alfred just smiles and says, “Of course, Master Jason,” and then he has nine new books that he eagerly, and a little embarrassedly, consumes.

He calls up Dick as soon as he finishes  _ Sunrise _ , tears in his eyes. “Hey, Dick?”

_ “Jason?” _ Dick sounds alarmed.  _ “Are you alright?” _

“Yeah, I just– is this a bad time? Is something wrong?”

_ “You sound upset.” _

“Oh! No, it’s– I read the books.”

A pause.  _ “The  _ Warriors _ ones?” _

“Yeah, I, um, I got the newer ones too. I haven’t quite finished them yet but…”

When Dick speaks next, Jason can hear the laughter in his voice. For the first time in their somewhat rocky relationship, he feels like his brother is laughing  _ with _ him, not  _ at _ him.  _ “You’re having cat feelings and needed an outlet?” _

“I’m having  _ so _ many cat feelings. I won’t spoil you, but you really need to read the new books.”

_ “Yeah? I’ll get on that.” _

“Seriously. I can’t believe you’ve done this to me  _ and _ left me with no one to talk to about it.” 

* * *

Alfred stops as he walks into the library. He’d been expecting to see Master Jason here, but he wasn’t aware that Master Dick was even in town– he and Master Bruce had had a large argument two days ago, and he’d left in a hurry.

“Master Dick, Master Jason,” he greets. “Master Dick, I did not know you were in Gotham.”

Dick looks up and grins at him. “Hi, Alfred. Sorry I didn’t mention anything– Jason and I have had this planned for forever, and I didn’t want to miss out.”

“Right.” Alfred raises an eyebrow at them; both boys are sitting together on one of the sofas, Dick with a Kindle and Jason with an unidentifiable hardcover book, the dustjacket slipped off. “And what exactly are you doing today, if I may ask?”

“The new  _ Warriors _ book just got released,” Jason says. “Dick and I are having a reading party.”

“It’s the last book in the arc,” Dick says, “and they’ve been building up to this for like, three series now.”

Alfred can’t help the smile that crosses his face. “I see. In that case, I will be right back with some more tea.” He sets down the mug he’d brought for master Jason on the nearest coffee table. “And perhaps some cookies.”

“Thanks, Alfie, you’re the best,” Jason says, grinning. 

As Alfred leads the room, he can’t help being happy that the two of them are bonding– even if it is over cat-themed drivel. 

* * *

Jason flops back on his bed and stares up at the ceiling, head spinning. His mom isn’t his mom. His  _ real _ mom is out there somewhere,  _ alive _ . It’s– it’s ridiculous. It’s some soap opera bullshit. It sounds like a contrived  _ Warrior Cats _ plot and– he sits up. This  _ is _ a contrived  _ Warrior Cats _ plot. 

He gets up and heads over to his bookshelf, where the books are all lined up neatly together, forgotten and unread for almost a year now. He’d stopped reading them shortly after _ The Sun Trail _ had come out, and his collection has been gathering dust ever since. (Well, not literally, Alfred keeps way too on top of cleaning for that, but– you get the idea.) 

He runs his finger along the spines and pulls out  _ Long Shadows _ , and then, after a moment’s hesitation,  _ Sunrise _ too. 

His life is kind of fucked at the moment. Maybe he can draw comfort from fictional cats who also have kind of fucked lives. Or, at the very least, he can get tips on what  _ not _ to do in this situation. (Though, he can’t really see himself having a mental breakdown and murdering someone over this– Hollyleaf’s experiences are  _ not _ universal.) 

* * *

Okay, Tim knows he shouldn’t be poking around in Jason’s room. The place is practically sacred, a temple to a dead son, and he feels like the worst kind of criminal being in here, but– well. He’d been at the mall with Dick at the weekend and as they’d passed the bookstore Dick had mentioned going there with Jason to pick up the latest book in a series they’d read together and he’d looked so  _ sad _ and  _ fond _ and–

Tim’s just curious, okay, because he knows Dick isn’t a big reader, especially not for fiction, and Alfred had told him that Jason had really liked classics, and he can’t think of what kind of book they’d both like enough to go on  _ release day _ .

So he’s in Jason’s room, glancing over his shoulder every five seconds to make sure no one will find him, looking through the bookshelf to figure out what it could have been.

In the end, it’s not that hard– the bottom shelf is entirely taken up by a series of books that don’t fit in at all with the classics and textbooks that occupy most of the bookshelf. He pulls one out at random and frowns at it, turning it over to read the blurb.

It’s about… cats. Jason and Dick bonded over a children’s book series about cats. 

That’s weird. What about these books captured their attention so much?

Well. There’s really only one way to find out, isn’t there?

He doesn’t want anyone to notice something wrong in here, so he’ll have to be careful– he’ll just take the first book, and sneak it back in before Alfred cleans in here. Don’t disturb anything, and keep it on him so that no one will find him in his room when he’s not there. Once his curiosity is sated, he’ll put it back and put the whole incident behind him, and hopefully one day he’ll be able to pass Jason’s door without feeling guilt claw at his stomach.

* * *

His curiosity is not sated. Tim spends the next several months sneaking in and out of Jason’s room, reading books during snatched moments alone, utterly enraptured. When he gets to the end of what Jason owns, he sets up a new alias and buys the ebook versions of the rest of the series with a prepaid credit card. It’s much easier to get through the rest when he’s not hiding a physical book, though he’s still careful enough that no one asks what he’s reading.

The only downside of all of this is that he can’t exactly talk to Dick about it without being like,  _ hey, I broke into your dead brother’s bedroom and have been secretly reading the books you offhandedly mentioned that one time because I am nothing if not an obsessive stalker _ . So he talks to Steph instead.

“So they go from the mountains to the old forest–” 

“Wait, how does this tie in with the battle between the Clans and cat hell?”

“One of the characters from that arc time travelled back to this era and made the Ancients move from the lake to the mountains and become the Tribe.”

“O-kay… Yeah, I’m lost, I’m sorry.”

Tim sighs. “That’s fine. It’s a weird series.”

She grins at him. “You’re such a dork. Like, you’re a literal superhero, and you’re rambling to me about a children’s book series about magical talking cats.” 

“Okay, the cats don’t really talk, they have like… a cat language. They don’t speak to the humans.”

She rolls her eyes. “Okay, Nerd Wonder!” Then she pauses. “Hey, do you hear that?”

Tim goes still, listening, and picks up the faint sound of an alarm in the distance. “Could be trouble,” he says. “Wanna go check it out?”

“Hell yeah,” Steph says, and they race off into the night.

* * *

“What’re you reading?” Cass says. Steph looks up just in time to see her pad in through the doorway of the living room and over to where Steph is lounging on Babs’ couch.

“Oh, hi Cass.” She shuffles up to make room for Cass to sit down on the other end of the couch. “It’s a book series Tim used to be an absolute nerd about. Apparently Dick used to read it as well when he was younger.”

“Oh.” Cass cocks her head. “Is it good?” 

Steph shrugs. “I mean, not really, but it’s enjoyable. And it’s really easy to get emotionally invested in the characters.”   
Cass hums, thoughtful. “Read it to me?”

Steph nods. “You want me to read this one, or should I go get the first book in the series?”

“Just continue,” Cass tells her.

Steph nods. “Alrighty!” She clears her throat and settles in, finding her place on the page and beginning to read.  _ “As Alderpaw wondered vaguely what was so important, both medicine cats turned towards him…” _

* * *

“What’re you reading?” Dick asks, materialising behind Tim and startling him out of his skin.

“Nothing,” he says, voice squeaking too much to be casual. Dick leans over his shoulder and pauses.

“Is this  _ Warriors _ ?”

“Um.”

“I used to love this series! I can’t believe you never mentioned you’d read it.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Tim hopes that Dick can’t hear the pounding of his heart, and is also ridiculously grateful that Dick hasn’t caught on to why exactly he’s reading it. “I guess it’s just kind of embarrassing, you know? These’re for kids.”

“True,” Dick says. “But once the cats are with you, they’ll never leave you.”

_ That’s… weirdly profound _ , Tim thinks. “Furry,” Tim says.

* * *

Bruce stares out into the darkness the Red Hood just vanished into. He’s confused, and he has a creeping suspicion he doesn’t want to be true, and he’s also pretty sure that Gotham’s newest crime lord just made a  _ Warrior Cats _ reference.

He makes his way back to the Batmobile, puts it on autopilot, then pulls out his phone and messages Dick:  _ Who are Leafpool and Hollyleaf?  _

Dick is typing for a long time before Bruce gets a response.  _ Leafpool is Hollyleaf’s mother. There’s a lot of drama involved because Leafpool is a medicine cat and not allowed to have kits.  _

Bruce’s headache increases.  _ And something about a poisoning? _

_ Yeah, Hollyleaf tries to poison Leafpool at one point after having a whole mental breakdown about the law and how Leafpool broke it and all that. _

Then,  _ Why do you need this?? Are you reading warriors. _

Bruce replies,  _ It’s for a case. _

He ignores Dick’s response of  _ I want to know everything about this warrior cats criminal once you’re done  _ and puts his phone away. 

A child tries to kill their parent over a breach of law.

It’s nothing. Alone, it wouldn’t be. But alongside everything else… Well. It’s just another piece of evidence that makes his stomach turn.

In his mind, the Red Hood’s voice echoes,  _ “This is gonna be just like when Hollyleaf tried to poison Leafpool.” _

* * *

“What do you mean.” It’s a demand, not a question. Damian’s voice is low and furious.

“I mean, Damian, that you’re not going on patrol tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next day, for that matter. You’re injured.”

“Tt. I am still capable of being Robin.”

“I never said you weren’t capable, Dames, but I don’t want you out there when you’re injured. As soon as you’re healed you can come on patrol again. But for now, you’re staying home.”

“And what do you suggest I do, while you’re out there?” Damian crosses his arms tightly across his chest. Dick thinks for a moment before an idea dawns on him.

“You know, there’s a thing every Robin has done that you can do from bed. Call it homework.”

Damian looks a little less scornful and a little more curious at that. “What is it?”

Dick leads Damian into his room and gets out his old Kindle, finding  _ Into the Wild _ and opening it before handing it to his brother. 

Damian’s face falls. “What is the meaning of this?”   
“It’s called  _ Warriors _ . Every Robin has read it, even Steph. It’s practically tradition by this point.”   
Damian’s lip curls. “This is childish drivel. What does it have to do with being Robin?”

“It may be for children, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t merit in it. You could learn a lot from them.”   
“Like  _ what?” _

“What makes a good leader. Respect for those who are different than you. How to handle conflict.” Dick nods towards the Kindle. “Seriously, give it a try. At least the first book. If you really don’t like it, I won’t make you read the rest.”

Damian sighs. “Fine,” he mutters. “I will read your…  _ Warriors _ . But don’t expect me to find this exercise worthwhile.”

Dick just smiles at him. “Sure thing, Dames.”

* * *

When Dick gets up the next morning, Damian is sat at the breakfast table with the Kindle propped up beside him, reading intently as he shovels oatmeal into his mouth.

“How’s the reading going, Damian?” he asks. 

“Tt,” Damian responds. Then, after a moment. “It was not as boring as I’d feared.” 

Dick can’t help but grin when he passes behind his brother and glances over to realise that he’s already several chapters into  _ Fire and Ice _ .

* * *

Duke is confused when he walks into the library to find all of his siblings and Steph scattered around, each of them reading with the exception of Cass, who has her earphones in and is presumably listening to an audiobook. He’s even more confused when he sees the pile of books lying on the table in the middle of them.

“Are you all reading  _ Warriors _ ?” he asks, absolutely bewildered.

They all look up in surprise, and Dick grins at him. “Duke! You’ve read  _ Warriors _ ?” 

“Uh, yeah. It was really popular at my middle school. You… You’ve all read  _ Warriors _ ?” 

“Still read  _ Warriors _ , unfortunately,” Tim sighs.

“Tim and Damian are the only ones of us who’re up to date on everything, so we thought we’d have a reading party,” Steph explains. 

“Yeah, because the Replacement won’t shut  _ up _ about it,” Jason grumbles.

“ _ The Broken Code _ is really, really good though,” Tim insists. 

Dick rolls his eyes. “You’re enjoying this, Jay, don’t lie.” Jason rolls his eyes, but doesn’t protest. “Anyway, Duke, you should join us!”

Duke considers it. He doesn’t have any plans anyway. “Yeah, sure,” he agrees, heading over to the pile of books to inspect it. “Man, there are way more than I remember. How many of these do they publish a year?”

“Like, three,” Steph says. “It’s why the quality’s so bad.”

Duke snorts. He finds the book that he thinks he left off on and picks it up, heading to the nearest vacant chair. 

“So, Duke, who’s your favourite character?” Dick asks.

Duke shrugs. “I dunno, Firestar, I guess?”

“Yes!” Dick cheers. “He’s my favourite, too.”

“You’re both boring,” Jason says.

“Firestar isn’t boring!” Dick insists. Duke gets the feeling that this is an argument the two of them have had before. “You’re just edgy.”

Tim snorts. “He’s got you there, Jason. Who’s your favourite again, Hollyleaf?”

Jason scowls, cheeks flushing red. “Ivypool, actually,” he returns.

“That proves the point even more.”

“Who’s your favourite?” Duke asks Tim.

“Bluestar,” Tim replies. 

“Bluestar’s cool,” Duke says. “Didn’t she have a backstory uh, what’re they called, special edition?”

“Super edition, yeah,” Tim says. “It’s good. There’s a bunch of continuity errors, but it’s worth reading for sure.”

“I’ll pick it up sometime,” Duke says. 

“My favourite’s Squirrelflight,” Steph says. “I know no one asked, but I wanted to say it.”

“Squirrelflight’s the best,” Jason says. Steph grins and fist-bumps him across a pile of books.

“What about you, Damian?” Dick asks Damian, who’s lying on his stomach on the rug. 

Damian scowls in that way he does when he’s embarrassed as he replies, “I quite like Bramblestar.”

“Good choice,” Dick says approvingly. “What about you, Cass?”

Cass pulls out a single earphone and squints at him. “Dovewing,” she replies. 

“Huh, really?” Duke asks. “I remember a bunch of the kids at school used to hate her.”

Cass shrugs. “She sees things in… different ways. It interests me.” Then she puts her headphone back in and settles back down to listen. Duke cracks open the book in his hands and feels a wave of nostalgia rush over him at the sight of the allegiances page. 

“So,” Tim says, after a few minutes of silence, “is everyone else now psychoanalysing people’s favourite character choices, or is it just me?”

“Oh, thank god, I thought it was just me,” Steph says.

“Tt,” Damian says, which Duke is pretty sure means  _ yes _ . 

“Now that you mention it…” Dick begins.

“If any of you voices your thoughts, I’ll tear out your tongue. I don’t want to hear it,” Jason interrupts, not looking up from his book. 

Cass glances over at Duke and mouths  _ Ivypool fan  _ and Duke can’t hold back his laugh. 

**Author's Note:**

> if you're interested i wrote a whole meta on the robins' favourite warrior cats, you can read it [here](https://bullyingbatman.tumblr.com/post/626646563971858432/so-some-folks-and-i-on-the-batfam-big-bang-discord). i didn't include cass in that post but her liking dovewing came to me as i was writing and like... idk i think cass would vibe with a character who sees the world in a very different way than the people around her and has to learn to cope with that.
> 
> the thing about the red hood referencing warriors is entirely based on a joke lo made:  
> redhood: this is just like when hollyleaf tried to threaten leafpool into eating deathberries  
> goon: what?  
> joker: what?  
> bruce (broken): .........jason..?
> 
> thank you for reading this nonsense! feel free to tell me YOUR favourite warrior cat in the comments


End file.
